NATCHEZ &8212; The recent heat wave has been affecting the first week of practices for high schools around the country, fortunately for the coaches and players at Trinity Episcopal Day School conditioning has not been an issue.

&8220;Well, we&8217;re pretty fortunate here in that we don&8217;t have a lot of fat boys,&8221; head coach David King said. &8220;Our guys worked really hard this summer and conditioning doesn&8217;t appear like it is going to be an issue.&8221;

According to King between 95-100 percent of the varsity players were in attendance for everyday for summer workouts.

Kolby Godfrey, a senior guard and defensive tackle said that as far as he&8217;s concerned the summer workouts are already paying dividends.

&8220;Almost all of us have been working out all summer and is in shape,&8221; Godfrey said. &8220;That&8217;s a good thing because right now we&8217;re able to focus more on learning plays.&8221;

Mark Harveston, another Trinity lineman, stressed that while the heat is a factor, it has not adversely affected the team.

&8220;It&8217;s hot. When it&8217;s hot like this people generally get aggravated more easily but not this team,&8221; Harveston said.

While keeping their cool (literally and figuratively) is at the top of the list for players and coaches, the first week of fall practice is important because it allows teams to gauge what their strengths and weaknesses are.

&8220;Right now we are spending a lot of time fine tuning,&8221; King said. &8220;We had a good spring and summer &8212; we&8217;re trying to find out this week who our leaders are and who is committed to playing football.&8221;

Come next Monday that focus is likely to shift a bit as players put on full pads for the first time since the spring.

&8220;This year we&8217;re going to run six or eight schemes,&8221; King said. &8220;We also have a number of kids who are going to line up in different positions. To do that we have to make sure everyone is on the same page before Monday.&8221;